PlayStation All-Stars: Christmas Hope
by Coleiosis
Summary: It's almost Christmas Day, yet the villains have something else in mind! They want to shut down the North Pole, but the good guys are going to teach them a valuable lesson about messing with holidays! But what will happen when Ratchet becomes evil? Bonus: Sly Cooper will return! Rated T for scary situations and violence


PlayStation All-Stars Christmas Special

"Oh my goodness," Ratchet exclaimed. "I forgot what day it is! Sackboy, go on ahead and check the calendar!"

"Will do, partner!" Sackboy ran into the orphanage's kitchen and looked at the nearest calendar hung up on the wall. There, he spotted something that made his heart jump. He was heavily surprised at what he saw, and he ran back into the main room, where Ratchet, Marcus Kane, and Sasha were waiting for him.

"I now know why Calypso sent all the Tyhrranoids! I NOW KNOW!" Sackboy jumped up and down in excitement.

"You DO!?" Sasha was excited to hear the evidence. "Tell me! Please!"

Sackboy swallowed hard. "Okay. Here's the secret." He quieted himself down to a whisper. "Tomorrow is… Christmas Eve."

Sasha and Ratchet gasped in surprise and excitement. "Are you serious?!"

"I AM serious! Calypso wanted to take this orphanage so that he can use it as a battleground for the Twisted Metal tournament on Christmas Eve!"

"WOW!" Ratchet jumped at this news and fell back down so hard he hit the floor. "I never knew that it was Christmas time here on EARTH! This is amazing!"

Marcus Kane smiled as he pointed over to a Christmas tree over in the corner of the main room. "Didn't you know? You completely ignored that Christmas tree over there while you were confronting Calypso. Every year, Calypso opens his Twisted Metal contest on Christmas Eve. It is very sad that he hold the contest during the most heart-moving holiday season."

"That's pretty interesting," Ratchet replied as he stood himself back up. "But how did you use that axe of yours? How it make that warp zone that led to the Opposite Dimension?"

"Well, I found out that you were in big danger fighting off the Tyhrranoids here in Los Angeles. I really wanted to help. But someone had heard what I wanted to do. So that certain someone had created a portal that led me from the Opposite Dimension to the NORTH POLE! I saw all the bright, colorful lights shimmering through the night sky and shining down onto the snowy ground. I then saw someone mysterious, and you will never believe who it was that I met! Believe it or not, it was Santa Claus himself; in the flesh! He spoke to me about putting me on the nice list for all that I've done to help you guys. So he gave me this powerful magic axe to banish Needles Kane to the Opposite Dimension, taking my place."

"That explains a lot," Ratchet replied. "Do you know where the real Charlie Kane is? I mean Needles' father, not his son."

"I do not know… but I DO know where Needles' daughter Sophie is. After Sweet Tooth became a monstrous killer, he almost killed his own daughter Sophie. I think he killed his wife; a sad thing that ever happened. When Sweet Tooth was just about to kill Sophie, she managed to get away from his father's fury. Sweet Tooth's son Charlie hid away, safe from any harm done. But that did not mean that Sweet Tooth was giving up. He soon wanted to compete in Twisted Metal (hosted again by Calypso; this was after the warp explosion happened) so that he can get back Sophie to kill her.

"Sophie later ended up in a hospital, trying to recover from the living nightmare of her father. It was extremely difficult to accept the fact that her once-loving father Marcus Kane is now the killer clown Sweet Tooth. She wanted to end the misery right then on the spot, so she shot herself in the head, committing suicide. That's when Sweet Tooth started coming in, killing the doctors and patients of the hospital, also killing the parents of baby Mark Barone."

Ratchet listened to Marcus' story and felt strongly stung in the chest because of this misery. "Why," he began to cry. "Why would she just end her life like that?! She would have made a good hero, but now she's gone because of her own mind! If only she would have taught some sense into her father instead of kill herself of the situation!"

"But I'm not finished," Marcus continued. "After Sweet Tooth asked for his daughter back so he can kill her, Calypso did grant his wish. But Sweet Tooth ended up in Sophie's coffin because she was dead. And, to tease him, Calypso spray-painted the name "Sweet Tooth" on Sophie's tombstone. Later, Sweet Tooth's son Charlie came to dig up his body, only to find that his father was dead. He took the clown mask and set his hair on fire, and he took the evil ice cream truck to find the one who left his father in there to die.

"After that, Calypso brought back Sophie as a zombie. She became a killer clown just like her father Sweet Tooth! WHAT NEXT!?"

"This is impossible," Ratchet replied. "It seems like the Kane family is falling apart into evil! This isn't right!"

"There are other secrets that we need to unravel," Marcus said. "But we also need to go Christmas shopping!" Marcus completely forgot about what time it was. It was 1:00 a.m., on December 23. The next day was Christmas Eve, so they needed to get ready for the greatest holiday. All the children in the orphanage had decorated Christmas trees put up in their room; the children were excited for Santa Claus to come and place presents under their trees. But what they really wanted most of all were two loving parents who would care for them in their need of protection.

In the meanwhile, Sweet Tooth (Needles Kane) was still trapped in the Opposite Dimension, away from his friends and foes. "Perhaps I can still use Opposite Dark Tooth," he kept thinking to himself. "But now I don't know where it is! It's been a long time since that fight we had down here, and it was totally pathetic, crap! If only I could take my dang split-personality into my hands and rip him apart! It's his fault that I'm down here in the first place!"

Then Sweet Tooth's mind began to play a big flashback of the memories of years ago. "I now know! William Sparks is the real name of Calypso! He made that car crash on purpose!" He stopped for a moment, calmed himself down, then thought softly. "Calypso was a very unhappy man working for a circus. He did have a wife and daughter (Krista Sparks), but he was still the unhappy man. He wanted to kill himself by dying in a car crash. He would crash his car into the wall to kill himself. But he did not know that after he dropped his wife off at home, Krista was still in the backseat asleep. Calypso did not know that Krista was still back there; he thought he dropped him off at home with his wife.

"So, just when Calypso was about to make the crash, Krista woke up and saw what her father was doing. They made the crash; and both of them died. But Calypso came back to life at one point; yet I don't know how he came back (it could be by doctors or zombies). It's pretty mysterious! That crash gave Calypso the burnt face, but his daughter Krista was still dead. Calypso had created the Twisted Metal competition after being through a terrible traffic jam. It was the traffic jam that was along the way to dropping Calypso's wife off at home.

"But that's not all! While Calypso was part of the circus, he brought it to my hometown. That's when I ran away from my father and became the insane clown known as Sweet Tooth. And so, after the year that Calypso gave me that dental surgery (for wishing for all the candy in the world), I felt like I wasn't doing well anymore. I was an expert competitor who won most Twisted Metal battles, but I felt like Calypso was merely using me as a pawn. Once a competitor died, Calypso would trap its soul inside a powerful ring, making him stronger. And so, I asked for a star to be the star of Twisted Metal; to be the most popular contestant in the world!

"After that, I overthrew Calypso and took the ring as my own! I became the master of Twisted Metal! But I didn't do well for long; Calypso later came back to compete and fought over the ring with me. The souls exploded… blah, blah, blah! We all get the picture! So now, after all that I had been through with my life, I now stand here, stuck in this freaking Opposite Dimension! I have nothing to eat but fruits and vegetables; WITH NO CANDY! Curse you fruits and veggies!"

Suddenly, at that moment, another warp hole opened up in the sky above Sweet Tooth. He looked up and saw who had made that hole: it was Calypso! In the flesh! "Sweet Tooth," Calypso called down to him. "Come back up here! We need to talk!"

"I'm not listening to you, you fudge-head! You can enjoy you're holly jolly Christmas up there while I sulk in failure down here! It's summer time down here in the Opposite Dimension!"

"Then perhaps if you come with me, I'll give you the keys to Dark Tooth. After all, Dark Tooth had disappeared after it blew the Tyhrranoid control ship. Yoshimitsu had put Dark Tooth on his "forever-enemy list" out of hate and frustration. But in the meantime, you're coming with me!"

"So you say you have the keys of Dark Tooth, eh? What luck! I'm coming up there!" As Sweet Tooth jumped through the warp hole above him, he thought heavily about the use of Dark Tooth. "How can this be," he thought. "Dark Tooth was once driven by my father, but now it acts as though it's alive! As a matter of fact, it actually is! I never knew that the giant head on top of the truck had a mind of its own!"

Once Sweet Tooth made it up to the real world, the warp hole closed and he was back in Los Angeles. "By the way, Calypso, how did you manage to get out of jail?"

"Your son did all the dirty work for me," Calypso replied. "He wanted to kill me for leaving you in your daughter's coffin. But, with his brute evil strength, he managed to break the big wall down to free us and the others."

"Who are the OTHERS?"

"Yoshimitsu and Mr. Grimm. They went to go steal presents from all Christmas trees. We decided to form a team instead of go against each other. Join us, and Dark Tooth will be yours! Even your son can help you drive it!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this: but Calypso, I'm with you on this!" But Sweet Tooth spoke too soon. Pretty soon, Dark Tooth came rolling towards him and Calypso. It then came to a complete halt when it looked like he drove far enough. "Dark Tooth," Sweet Tooth exclaimed. He then looked at Calypso in question. "Who's driving that thing? Has my son Charlie already caught up to it?"

The giant flaming evil clown head on top of the truck looked down to them and finally spoke. It's voice was that of a robot, so it was mechanically controlled. "YOU MUST BE DELETED! YOU MUST BE DELETED!"

"What's this?" Sweet Tooth stepped forward. "Has it lost its mind?!"

"YOU MUST BE DELETED," the head kept on saying. Dark Tooth was under some strange control.

Until then, Sweet Tooth and Calypso heard another voice speak. It came from inside the truck, so someone was indeed controlling Dark Tooth. It sounded like a Dalek from "Doctor Who," and out came a pitch-black creature that looked more like a robot. It spoke powerfully: "EXTERMINATE! CALYPSO, I HAVE FOUND YOU!"

Calypso did not recognize the creature at first, but then he did. "Oh my gosh! It's my old friend Black! I used him to help grant people's wishes! Until then, Mr. Ash (driver of Darkside) came and took Black to his real home. And now Black is back! And (heck!) he's controlling Dark Tooth now!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, CALYPSO," Black replied. "I HAVE COME TO RUIN ALL OF CHRISTMAS, AND NO ONE IS GOING TO STOP ME! AND MAY I FIND SOPHIE KANE, THE FEMALE KILLER CLOWN! SHE SHALL CUT ALL CHRISTMAS TREES TO NOTHINGNESS!"

"WHAT?!" Sweet Tooth could not believe his ears. His daughter Sophie was still out there, and he did not even know until now. "Perhaps if Sophie is now a killer like me, then me, her, and Charlie can be the new and improved Kane family! Oh, this is so grand! I'm so happy I can cry!"

"So," Calypso spoke, "what you're saying is: you're going to ruin Christmas like we're going to?"

"THAT IS CORRECT, CALYPSO," Black replied. "PERHAPS IF WE JOIN FORCES AGAIN, WE CAN BE UNSTOPPABLE AT RUINING CHRISTMAS FOREVER! CLIMB ABOARD DARK TOOTH, AND WE SHALL BE ON OUR WAY!"

Sweet Tooth and Calypso stood there and looked at each other. They had a secret plan that would never fail them at all. "Agreed," Calypso exclaimed. "But first we shall find the one man of this holiday. And I know just where he is."

Much later, at 9:10 a.m. on the same day, the good guys had woken up from a long sleep. But Ratchet, Sasha, Sackboy, and Marcus tried to recover from the experience of what had happened very early that morning at 12:30 a.m. Ratchet and Sasha were the most shaken-up from the battle that occurred yesterday. Throughout the battle of Los Angeles, all the members of the good-guy pack became a bit distraught after fighting off the Tyhrranoids that came down from the warp hole that Calypso formed.

Now things were getting just a little bit better. Everyone (along with the orphan children) was eating some nice hot pancakes off the griddle for breakfast. While that was going on, the television set in the living room played the 9-o'clock news on NBC. But the breaking news that played was not pretty. The reporter announced that the North Pole had been shut down until further notice. It turned out that "some man in a suit with long hair" had done the work through an official contract signed by him.

Ratchet recognized the man as Calypso! Perhaps Calypso had done that so Santa Claus could not exit on Christmas Eve and drop presents down peoples' chimneys. Sackboy almost burst into tears after hearing this piece of breaking news. "What?! That's insane! How can he do something like that!?"

"I don't know, Sackboy," Ratchet replied. "But look at how all the elves are rebelling against Calypso's decree. They can't do anything because Calypso and his little gang are threatening them with Dark Tooth and the evil clowns! Wait a minute!" Ratchet looked closer at the TV screen to see Sweet Tooth standing with his son Charlie and his daughter Sophie. "Is that Sophie Kane?!"

Marcus went over to the television set and took a good glimpse. "Yep; that's Sophie alright! But she's nothing like MY daughter, and that's for sure."

"So it looks like all of the Kane family has come in, eh? But I still need to know where Sweet Tooth's father Charlie is. I don't want to keep all this shrouded in mystery," Ratchet said.

Marcus took another glimpse at the TV set. "And also, Calypso brought his old slave Black with him. And he's driving Dark Tooth this time! This is very multiple troubles for all of us now!"

While the good guys watched in horror at the happening event, the announcer pointed his microphone at Calypso for him to say something on the air. "Calypso, do have any reason or purpose for shutting down the North Pole?!"

Calypso smiled hideously and screamed in reply: "MY CLOWNS AND I WILL BRING RATCHET OUT HERE IN THE OPEN SO WE CAN DESTROY HIM FOREVER! AND WHILE HE DIES, HE SHALL REMEMBER THIS: I AM CALYPSO, AND I THANK YOU FOR PLAYING TWISTED METAL!"

Everyone gasped. Now they knew the reason: Calypso is ruining Christmas by replacing it with the wretched Twisted Metal competition. But who was going to stop him and his clown goons? Things were going to seem impossible. But Ratchet stood up and finally spoke up about it: "I'll go! I will go and stop this tyranny even if I get killed out there! I may need to sacrifice myself in the process, but I will stop him no matter what happens!"

Sasha ran up to Ratchet and tried to persuade him. "Ratchet, don't do it! You mean a lot to me! You can't just risk your life out there!"

"Sasha, you don't understand. Christmas happens every year, and I don't want Calypso to make it end here and now."

Nathan Drake stepped forward and pitched in to the conversation: "The holiday started in the year 1 A.D. What do you think! Ratchet is right, Sasha. This holiday has been going on for over two thousand years; we can't let it stop now!"

Sasha sighed lightly at Nathan's statement. "You're right, Nathan. Perhaps maybe if I went with you, Ratchet, things would actually go a whole lot better."

"You can come with me if you want to, Sasha," Ratchet replied. He quieted himself down a soft whisper for Sasha. "It would be better if we die together."

"And I'll come as well," Marcus came in. "I know the weaknesses of my real-world-self."

"But Marcus," Ratchet replied. "If you come fight those evil clowns, it'll be like fighting YOUR family. You can't attack your own family like that."

"They're not my family," said Marcus. "My wife and kids are safe down in the Opposite Dimension; whereas the clowns up are nothing but scum compared to my real family. I shall do what I can to protect you two; I'll bring my magic axe to help."

Sasha looked happy about this. "See, Ratchet? We can do this without dying! We're a team!"

At that moment, Solid Snake (dressed up in a Santa Claus suit and hat) stepped forward and gave them a piece of news: "Yo! My iPhone 5 has built-in radar that reading two henchmen are walking through the streets and stealing valuable stuff. Perhaps we can go and take care of those guys."

Ratchet thought for about a second and spoke up: "Two henchmen, eh? They must be sidekicks; Yoshimitsu and Mr. Grimm. If Calypso and Sweet Tooth's family are going to join forces together, then so be it! We'll go against them; this time, harder than before! After all that I've done to protect my friends, I've done my best with no real results. I had that drinking addiction that made me suffer during the first fight between Sweet Tooth and I. I was also knocked back by Sweet Tooth's atom-manipulator in a very dumb stunt. At least Opposite Charlie Kane came in the way. But I still acted like mediocre while fighting Yoshimitsu down in the sewer, also considering the fact that I never attacked Calypso while he had the portal hole open. Well, this time I'll strike back even harder! I'll fight for real this time! Sasha, Marcus, let's go and teach those guys a lesson or two!"

And so, Ratchet, Mayor Sasha Phyronix, and Marcus Kane had headed out the door and into the open city of Los Angeles, searching for the villains that would end Christmas forever!

After about a few hours of searching, the trio did not know where the bad guys would be at the moment. Ratchet lost his patience, so he quickly took out his cell phone to dial Sweet Tooth's phone number. But he couldn't get a hold of him; the Los Angeles National Park was not a place where phone signal could be received. Perhaps Calypso had cut off all phone signals because he knew that Ratchet would dare call him. At the park, hardly any leaves hung on the branches of trees; snow was scraped along the ground, covering the dying grass.

A rustling noise was heard throughout the distant trees; Marcus was the first to notice it, so he decided to head over there to investigate. "You two stay here; I'll go take a look."

After Marcus went over to where the noise was heard, Ratchet and Sasha were left alone in the most enchanting forest in all of Los Angeles. "Oh, Ratchet," Sasha began to speak. "Isn't this place romantic?"

"Well," Ratchet replied. "It WAS romantic until it got it all wet. But we have to keep searching; the villains should be near us, right under our noses." He stopped for a moment, then spoke again. "You know, even if we are beaten, we still love each other, right?"

"Oh, Ratchet! You're so adorable!" They chuckled for a second, then the thing happened. They got so close to each other, they did the kiss that they wanted to do at 12:30 that morning. "Isn't love so everlasting?"

"It most certainly is, Sasha. Maybe if we win this, we can enjoy this Christmas together. Who knows?"

Suddenly, Marcus came running back to them as if an ambush had occurred. "Guys! They're here! They're surrounding the whole park!"

"We must get ready," Ratchet replied. "Death to the villains of Twisted Metal!" He drew out his Omniwrench and poised himself for combat. Sasha drew out her laser-pistol and charged it up to fire laser-bolts. Marcus already had his enchanted axe cleaned from the earlier battle and in hand for more combat.

Pretty soon, the evil clown laugh echoed through the park as homing ice cream napalm fired at the trio. "Stay back," Ratchet exclaimed as he grasped the napalm with his Omniwrench and flung it back to where it came. The napalm exploded a pink explosion while the evil clown laugh died away. Then, out from the trees came the three Kanes (Needles, Charlie, and Sophie). They drew out their machetes and axes to charge at the trio with great force.

But the good guys were agile enough to deflect back the attack with their own weapons. It was a difficult fight, considering the fact that Ratchet had fought the two Sweet Tooths before. Now it was double-trouble for him; but he was not alone. His two great companions Mayor Sasha Phyronix and Marcus Kane fought side-by-side with him, causing this to be a fair fight. Three against three was greatly fair: Ratchet fought Charlie, Marcus went up against Needles, and Sasha fought against Sophie (a fair girl fight). Things were going very smooth for the good guys; their spirits were heavily hopeful for gaining victory and returning the holiday of Christmas.

"Look at how impossible this Lombax is, dad," Charlie spoke up. "He may look invulnerable, but he can really fight!"

"Just keep swinging that arm of yours, sonny," his father Needles replied. "The sooner we kill these guys, the sooner we have the whole world to ourselves!"

"Not so," Marcus said. "The universe is endless! There is room for all! There may be a chance when you and the rest of the humans can live side-by-side in friendship!"

"Bah! Your words are as futile as your deeds! You fight for your cause, mighty one, while I fight for mine! The only way this battle could end is when either I die or YOU die!" Needles swung his machete at Marcus again, but not without Marcus blocking the blow again with his axe. "WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?"

The battle raged on for so long, it seemed like everyone was getting exhausted from all the action. But Calypso had finally come to aid the evil clowns in the intense fight. "I am here; and I am not amused! It looks like you good guys are as clumsy as they say you are! I shall dispose of you so!" In a flash, something impossible happened. Calypso quickly drew out a dagger that glowed a purple tint. He rushed toward Ratchet and STABBED HIM STRAIGHT THROUGH THE CHEST!

Ratchet gasped as he embraced the full impact of Calypso's stab. The purple glow went from the knife and throughout Ratchet's body. From his mouth came little droplets of his blood; perhaps the dagger was magical after all. Sasha saw what Calypso had done to Ratchet and screamed really loud in fear and worry. She ran over to Ratchet, who fell to the ground while Calypso laughed his head off.

"RATCHET! NO!" Sasha knelt down and saw Ratchet's dying body laying there. This may have been Ratchet's end, but something mysterious happened afterwards. Ratchet got back up slowly and became like a Lombax possessed. He turned completely mad and angrily charged himself right at Calypso, knocking him to the snowy ground. He began to glow the purple tint again as he FED ON CALYPSO'S POWER! Draining the power from Calypso caused the evil man to weaken and tremble with pain.

"Ratchet! Are you okay?!" Sasha was even more worried now that Ratchet had become something more powerful than ever. Ratchet turned his head to face Sasha, but he was smiling rather evilly. He swung his Omniwrench at Sasha's neck and trapped her onto a nearby tree. The Omniwrench stabbed into the tree as it trapped Sasha's neck and choked her. As she was stuck onto the tree, caught by the Omniwrench, Ratchet walked over to her and shouted something very surprising: "I AM CALYPSO! AND I THANK YOU FOR PLAYING TWISTED METAL!"

Ratchet grabbed back the Omniwrench and ran away, leaving Sasha in heavy tears while still choking. She wanted to go after him and try to plead him to come back. But it was useless; Ratchet had become something very evil with Calypso's great power.

In the meanwhile, Marcus was still fighting off the three Kanes. He had no more luck after trying to fight it one-to-three. The axe was knocked out of his grip, so that left him unarmed and helpless. Marcus stopped to catch his breath out of heavy exhaustion. He began to speak again: "Why?! Why are you doing this!?"

"You always were blind to reality," Needles replied.

"It's not too late to turn back, Needles. Don't do this."

Needles laughed evilly as he ran towards Marcus to finish him off. "How did you get to be such a fool!? YOU SUCK!" He punched Marcus hard in the stomach, then up his face. "Take him away!" Needles commanded his son Charlie to come over and pick up Marcus' body onto his shoulder.

"Let's leave, dad," Charlie replied as he walked away with Marcus' body on his shoulder.

Needles walked over to Calypso, lying on the ground with pain. He picked him up onto his shoulder and carried him away. "We'll heal your burnt body, Calypso."

"He…" Calypso tried to reply, "he took my power… left me weak. I can't feel… anything."

"Well, then. If that's the way Ratchet is being, then perhaps he's one of us now. This is astounding! Let's hope that no one wins over us."

Sasha was left alone in the snowy park. She became very sad about what had happened; Ratchet turned evil and left her alone, and Marcus was taken captive by the clowns of Twisted Metal. Something had to be done… somehow. But, with all that fear and worry engulfing her, what would she do to restore peace?

Later, at 4:30 p.m., Marcus found himself inside a familiar place. It was Needles' "Prison Cell #15" from a long time ago. Needles had used that prison cell to hold Nathan Drake as a captive after he and Sir Daniel Fortesque had captured him. Needles also used that cell to keep Ratchet prisoner after that big duel they had.

Many words of hurt and pain rang through Marcus' poor head, now damaged from the battle. "It's everything," it whispered. "It's everything! It's breaking you down!" Marcus did not want to hear it go through his mind. "Stop it! You're freaking me out! You're breaking me!"

But soon, Marcus felt a blow on his head from Needles fist. Needles had punched Marcus to snap out of his dizziness. "Look at me, Marcus! LOOK AT ME! All because of that stupid Preacher, I had this curse put upon me! I'LL NEVER FORGET THIS! I WON'T FORGET!"

Marcus heard Needles say that particular phrase, and it was exactly what Marcus said when he was about to banish Needles to the Opposite Dimension. So now everyone knew: Needles had the curse put upon him by the one known as Preacher. He lied to Ratchet when he said that the ring put the curse upon him; because if Ratchet ever fed on Calypso's power and turned evil, he would look for the ring and become very strong with the souls.

"You can't do this, Needles," Marcus replied. "I know that my friends never betray me!"

"What are you talking about?! You have no friends! All you have is that one mind that keeps boggling on and on about how the same we are!"

"So help me," Marcus continued, "I will find all the pieces of my life torn apart! And it's all inside of you! I'll be free once again!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"All I'm saying is… THERE IS STILL HOPE!" And as he shouted this, the window above them crashed open and the glass shattered to pieces. In hopped Sackboy, Nathan Drake, Raiden, and Carl Roberts, coming for the rescue!

Sackboy hopped on top of Needles and knocked him down to the floor. "HANDS OFF MY FRIEND, YOU FIEND!" He was anxious about scoring victory and returning the holiday of Christmas to the world. While he fought with Needles, the other three were fighting Charlie and Sophie. The clown brother-and-sister duo was no match for the archaeologist, the ninja warrior, and the police officer. Soon, the two were tied up with duct tape shutting their mouths. Needles later got tied up as well, while Sackboy used the link power he possessed to activate keys to unlock Marcus' chains.

"Thanks buddy! You're pretty cute with your link powers," Marcus said to him. "But we've got to get to Ratchet before he causes any damage! He needs to come back with us!"

"I know," Sackboy replied. "I saw Sasha crying her heart out while she was over at the park. There was a heavy blizzard going on, and I didn't want her to freeze in the big weather. So I went to go comfort her and brought her back to the orphanage. I tried to give her a nice warm blanket to warm her up, yet she rejected it in sadness. She told me how Ratchet was now truly evil, and now we've got to bring him back!"

"Let's hope that he doesn't fall into any other evil hands."

But they spoke too soon; pretty soon, Dark Tooth came bursting in and doing its usual evil clown laugh. "YOU MUST BE DELETED," the Dark Tooth head spoke. "YOU MUST BE DELETED! YOU MUST BE DELETED!"

"Shucks! I completely forgot all about Dark Tooth being here," Marcus said.

Raiden poised himself for more action with his electric sword. "Don't worry," he hissed. "If Ratchet took this guy out before, then WE can as well."

The creature Black came peaked out of the driver's seat and threatened the good guys into totally annihilating them. "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! I WILL DESTROY YOU FOREVER AS I WILL DESTROY ALL OF CHRISTMAS!"

Dark Tooth's head blazed with fire even more. It looked more threatening than before, and it looked like things were about to get way worse for the good guys. "If only we had some ricochet bombs to take care of this guy," Marcus spoke.

Sackboy thought for a second, then finally had an idea. "LINK! RICOCHET BOMBS!" He used his link power again and activated five ricochet bombs to hand to Marcus, Carl Roberts, Nathan Drake, and Raiden (he gave the fifth bomb to himself). "On the count of three, all of us will throw these at the dang enemy! One…" They poised themselves to get ready. "Two…" They were prepared to throw. "THREE!" They threw the ricochet bombs at Dark Tooth (most bombs landed on the Dark Tooth head) and caused such a powerful explosion that rocked the whole jail building.

Pretty soon, Dark Tooth completely crumbled to pieces, but Black was not finished just yet. After the explosion caused, he heard a familiar sounding voice speak to him: "Let's go Black! Minion is waiting!"

Black gasped when he heard the voice speak to him. "Mr. Ash! I'm coming home!" Black vanished into thin air, but it only means that he was taken to his homeworld in the depths of the core of the earth. As the good guys looked down at where Black used to be, they gasped in amazement.

"He's gone," they exclaimed. "How can he do that?!"

"We'll worry about that later," Marcus told them. "Right now we've got to set things right!"

Carl Roberts asked, "What about Calypso?"

"You're a cop for crying out loud! Go find him and arrest him to put him with the clowns!"

And so, at 5:30 p.m., Ratchet stood on top of a park bench, watching the sun fully set, marking the end of the day. He was still filled with the evil power that he stole from Calypso, so he was still very evil. But little did he know that someone else was watching him the whole time. The mysterious figure stood behind him, and spoke out something so that Ratchet would recognize him:

"Ratchet… you've been my biggest fan. And so you just want to take everything away from yourself?!"

"Don't try me," Ratchet replied. He did not look behind him to see who was talking. Instead, he just kept standing in that same position. "I'm not coming back! I love my new self!" He laughed evilly.

As the silhouetted figure stood behind Ratchet, he thought to himself: "If he had fed on Calypso's great power, then he must now be a new split-personality of Calypso! But Ratchet's now just as bad as Calypso! And I need to snap him out of it, mainly by draining the power out of him!"

"So go away," Ratchet spoke again. "Unless you want to be massacred severely! Go ahead and try to stop me; I won't be overtaken, you idiot!"

And so, the mysterious figure finally attacked at Ratchet; leaping at him, he brought Ratchet straight to the ground. Ratchet turned his head around to see who had brought him down; and sure enough, it was someone awfully familiar. It was SLY COOPER! Sly had come to bring Ratchet back to the path of goodness!

"Don't do this to me, Ratchet," Sly exclaimed. "There is still good in you! I know it! You can't turn your back on your friends and follow the path of evil! Remember when we were a team, we taught Sweet Tooth a valuable lesson about keeping off the drugs and bad sources! But I have to say: I'm sorry that I hardly got into any action with you. All I did was help destroy the Sweet Bots; I could've done better in the fight. But now I want to come back with you and the rest of the gang, and help you defeat the evil ones once and for all!"

Ratchet smiled hideously and spat in Sly's sweating face (literally). "We were never a real team, you lunkhead! We hardly worked together! We were only 'friends' doing random things like fighting Sweet Bots! Now you will face the consequences of underestimating my GLORIOUS POWER!" Ratchet knocked Sly off of him, throwing him backwards to be knocked against the trees. Sly got himself back into shape to defend himself against the newly evil Ratchet.

Ratchet drew out his Omniwrench and charged himself straight at Sly with full force. But Sly was able to block Ratchet's blow with his trusty thief cane in hand. Things were about to get worse when Ratchet's anger rose to almost its boiling point, making it harder for Sly to swing his cane and block his attacks. Difficulty rose rapidly when Ratchet began to also use his fists to duke it out in this battle. He kept on punching Sly right in the stomach and upside the head, making him weaker than before the fight started.

"Ratchet, this isn't like you! This NEVER IS you! What has happened to the one friend I knew!? What has happened to the Lombax destined to be real hero like his father!?" Sly felt like the tears he shed burned his face along with the cold, snowy air.

"HERO!?" Ratchet screamed heavily. "I'd rather be victorious VILLAIN! VILLAINS ALWAYS WIN!"

"Fine! I won't use my hands anymore! I'll never hurt you anyhow!" Sly tossed his cane aside to mark a false sign of truce. He had another plan in mind.

"You may not want to hurt me with your hands; BUT I WILL!" With that, Ratchet brought up his Omniwrench and stabbed it into the ground, trapping Sly's neck in the wrench's grasp in the process. Sly was pinned down to the ground by the Omniwrench, with no hope of getting himself back up to his feet. "Victory will always be mine," Ratchet hissed at him.

"No, Ratchet. You're wrong," Sly replied quietly. He had bought himself enough time to pull something secret out of his pocket. "We'll share it; it will be OURS!" Sly brought up a doctor's medical shot, empty with no liquid inside. But he stabbed the needle into Ratchet's chest anyway and pumped Calypso's power from Ratchet's body and into the shot's glass container.

Ratchet yelled in pain as Calypso's power was sucked out of him. He had completely lost his mind as madness engulfed him once more. He then fainted as a result of the aftermath of the fight. Sly looked into the shot's glass container and saw how Ratchet's blood was mixed with Calypso's magical power. Now Ratchet was truly free from the evil that bound him.

Sly freed himself from the Omniwrench's grasp and helped Ratchet get himself back up to his feet. "Are you okay, Ratchet?"

Ratchet opened his healed eyes completely to see who revived him of this evil power. He saw how happy Sly's face was, and was surprised to see him again after all that time that he was gone. "Sly? Ugh…" Ratchet almost lost his balance for a moment, but Sly helped support his balance. "What happened?! Why do I feel so rotten!?"

"It's gonna be okay, buddy. Thanks to us and our teamwork, Christmas is back into the world again! We did it, pal!"

"I don't understand. How did we do this together?! You were the one who… revived me from this power."

"Hey; at least we're together in the team again. Today, I'm rejoining with those who want to save the world!"

"That's amazing, Sly! Welcome back! But where's Sasha?"

"She was at the orphanage crying her heart out. Come on; we've got to go liberate her from her sadness."

"You're talking pretty fancy there, Sly."

Sly smiled. He was back to being the hero that he was before.

The sun had fully set to mark nighttime for half of the earth.

Later, at 6:00 p.m., back at the orphanage, Ratchet and Sly had arrived and calmed Sasha down of her fears and worries.

"Oh, Ratchet," Sasha exclaimed. "It's nice to see you back! I knew that you would never be an evil person! After all, you are still my little lover boy!"

"Always, Sasha. Always."

Meanwhile, Nathan Drake, Raiden, Solid Snake, and Sackboy were happy and excited that Sly Cooper had returned to fight for good, truth, and justice. Things were getting more happier as the minutes went by. The Christmas dinner that they had tasted tremendous (turkey, corn pudding, and mashed potatoes); and while they were eating, they watched what was going on on the NBC news at six. The reporter announced that the villains (Needles, Charlie, Sophie, Calypso, Mr. Grimm, and Yoshimitsu) were captured and arrested, and the North Pole had been freed with the elves kept busy again creating toys for all the young kids around the world.

"Wow," Sackboy exclaimed. "That means that Santa Claus can celebrate Christmas again! HOORAY!"

Sackboy's mentioning of Santa Claus and Christmas presents struck Ratchet's mind and reminded him about something. "Oh crap! Tomorrow's Christmas Eve! I forgot to buy presents!" After eating the rest of their meal and washing their dishes, the gang right away headed out the door and started jogging towards stores to buy Christmas presents for everybody. It took them about two total hours of buying presents for all the members of the gang.

At one point, Nathan Drake paired up with Sackboy at an antique store. Sackboy looked up at Nathan and asked: "What should we buy for the mean ol' bad guys?"

"Don't worry," Nathan replied. "I think Santa Claus already knows what to do for those guys: he'll just give them each a lump of coal in their stockings."

Along the way to one of the stores, Ratchet caught sight of Solid Snake wearing his Santa Claus costume and fake white beard. Snake was ringing a little bell while standing next to a bucket of donated money for the homeless people. Ratchet reached into his pocket and tried to draw out some money that he thought he had, but he did not have any. So he went over to the bucket and talked with Snake: "If I didn't have any money, that would mean that I'm letting a good kid down."

"Don't worry, Ratchet. So far, nobody came here to donate, so the bucket is empty. Probably because no one comes over here to this street."

"Well then. I'll make use of your complementary spit bucket." And so, with that, Ratchet spat into the bucket and ran off.

"You're a real state trooper," Snake said as he looked into the bucket. "But you forgot this rusty steak knife I was gonna give you. It's got Mr. Grimm written all over it."

And so, at 9:30 p.m., everyone got back to the orphanage with their shopping bags in hand. Each person individually had to hide somewhere in the building to wrap the presents in private so no one can look. Sackboy could not find any wrapping paper, so he just used many sheets of regular printer paper to wrap his friends' presents. Pretty soon, after wrapping the presents that he bought, he thought about something that struck him: "What the heck!? I forgot to use my link power to activate wrapping paper! But I don't want to undo the work I've already done. Besides, everyone will think that what I did was cute."

And so, after all that hoopla, everyone went to bed (but not before decorating their beds with Christmas decorations). As Ratchet went into his bed, he looked up outside the window nearby. He saw the most beautiful view ever in his life. It was much better than what he saw a couple of months ago when he was dealing with his drinking addiction. The stars were twinkling, and the full moon was shining very bright, lighting up the snow-covered ground with a light tint.

The next day was Christmas Eve, and so everyone was so excited about that night. But let us go on ahead to the end of the day when the sun fully set.

At 9:30 p.m., everyone was just sitting around listening to Christmas music until they saw someone out the window. They recognized the figure as Needles, escaped from jail and the fire on top of his head gone. What could he possibly be doing there on Christmas Eve? Ratchet and Marcus went out the door to go talk to him.

"Listen up, shortstuff," Needles began to speak. "Why can't I ever enjoy a nice Christmas with my family?!"

"It's pretty obvious, Needles," Marcus replied. "You killed your own wife, so what are you gonna do now?"

"But I still don't know how exactly I became evil. I just did it for the Twisted Metal contest to fulfill all of my wildest dreams and wishes. If only Sophie and Charlie had escaped from jail too. They would've celebrated this holiday with me, yet I don't really like what all of it is about."

After hearing this, Marcus handed Needles (believe it or not) a Bible! "The beginning of the New Testament explains it all."

Needles all of a sudden began to break down crying. "I don't want this curse! I want my old self back so that I can be the wealthiest villain on earth!"

Ratchet walked over to Needles and did the most impossible thing that ever happened. He raised his hands up and slowly pried the clown face from Needles' face, revealing his real and true self. "There you are, Marcus," he said calmly, calling Needles by his real name.

Needles felt around his face and found that it was his real face. The beard was the same as his split-personality's, but his head was completely bald. The fire that used to rage upon his head had burned off all of his hair. "Ratchet," he began to speak again. "You did it. You lifted the curse from me. Now I am an actual man again."

"Come on in," Ratchet replied. "You don't have to be alone on Christmas."

Needles could not believe what had happened to him. He was being invited into someone's house on Christmas; and the evil curse had now been lifted from him. "Are you serious?"

Marcus smiled and replied. "How can we be? After all, you are the real me."

And so, Ratchet and Marcus let Needles into the house to unite with all the other good guys. Everyone was surprised to see that the killer clown villain known as Needles Kane, Sweet Tooth, had been released from the curse and let into the orphanage for homeless children. "It's alright," Ratchet said to them. "He'll do no harm to us."

Needles allowed himself to sleep on the couch that night (once everyone went to bed), trying to dream of something more positive than the life that he led. Then, he too began to look out a nearby window to see the great view of Christmas Eve night. Christmas lights and decorations were hung up on everyone's houses and buildings. The stars once again twinkled while the moon shone bright upon the snowy floor.

When it seemed like midnight had struck, Needles woke up at the sound of someone's footsteps in the dining room. He looked up to see that Santa Claus had come and was eating some cookies off a plate. "Santa…" Needles whispered. "Is it you?"

Santa turned around to see Needles lying on the couch. He walked over to him and said: "Yes, Marcus; it is me."

"Will you do just one thing for me, sir? I promise I'll be good."

"Well then. What is it?"

"Will you please give me back the power of friendship so that I can find what I'm looking for for my life?"

Santa's eyes widened as he heard what Needles had asked him. "Are you serious?" He looked across the room to see his big red bag full of presents lying on the floor next to the tree. "Perhaps I CAN grant you that." He walked over to the bag and pulled out something familiar-looking. It was a brown paper bag; it was CRAZY HAROLD THE WACKY LUNCH SACK!

Needles gasped as he saw Santa pull out his friend Harold. "You found my friend Harold!?"

"How can I 'find' it; after all, my big bag is magical. It's just like the axe that I gave Marcus."

As Needles grasped the bag and stuffed his hand into it, he shed a tear of jolly joy. "Santa… I just don't know how to thank you."

"Perhaps there is still good in you. I do forgive you and your son and daughter Charlie and Sophie."

"But what about my father? Will I ever find him?"

"That is for fate to decide, Marcus. I do forgive your father as well. But for now, sleep tight. Christmas morning is soon to come." And so, with a wave of his hand, magical pixie dust formed and surrounded Needles' head, causing him to fall fast asleep.

After Santa placed presents under the Christmas tree and left the orphanage, Needles began to have more positive thoughts ringing through his head. He began to think: "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas needs just a little bit more." I know; the Grinch had thought the same thing too. Needles' favorite book as a kid was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. But as Needles became evil, he hated the ending of the book because the Grinch then became good and brought Christmas back to the city of Who-Ville. But now Needles just likes the book as a whole.

That morning, at 8:20 a.m., Ratchet was the first to wake up. He went into the living room and saw how many Christmas presents that were under the Christmas tree. It was surprising how Santa Claus had the last chance of leaving some presents for Sly Cooper.

But when Ratchet turned around, he saw that Needles was not on the couch anymore. Instead he saw a written note in his place. Ratchet picked it up and read what the note said:

"Dear friends,

After all that had happened last night, I just don't know what to do with my life now. I met Santa Claus at midnight and he gave me something that was very important. I had lost it, but now I had found what was missing from my life. It was my friendship that he gave me; I had lost it ever since I became an evil clown, and now I had gained it back. So, when I woke up at 7:20 this morning, I decided to leave to go reunite with my son and daughter. But before I left, I left you a little something. You had lifted the curse from me, so I decided to give you something to return the favor.

Warm regards,

Marcus Kane

P.S. Merry Christmas"

Ratchet was surprised as he read the letter. He looked under the Christmas tree and found a red box with a tag saying: "To my friends, from Marcus." So now Needles was using his real name, but it might seem that he would only do that for a short time. The good guys did not know what Needles would do now; perhaps he'll become evil again, or he'll find the path of goodness.

Once everyone came, the whole gang was all there. When it was Ratchet's turn to open his present, he opened the one that Needles gave him. He opened it, took a good look inside, and was surprised to see what Needles had left him. He reached into the box and pulled out HIS FATHER KADEN'S OMNIWRENCH! It was a memory of Ratchet's father that Needles had found.

After Ratchet became good again thanks to Sly Cooper, Needles figured that Ratchet would not be looking for the ring of souls anymore. That's why Needles came to the orphanage on Christmas Eve night; and he gave Ratchet Kaden's Omniwrench instead of the ring.

Sasha looked at how happy Ratchet was with Needles' gift to him. "Is it possible that Sweet Tooth is now good?"

"None can say, Sasha," Ratchet replied. "But one thing's for sure: he's a real state trooper. And do you know what else? You're a real babe, Sasha."

**MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! AND TO ALL, HAVE A GOOD NIGHT!**


End file.
